Notes from the Unemployed

'Tis the season. The holidays are fast approaching. The birds have flown. The trees are bare. Soon the snow will start falling.

A new month beginning... another month gone. And still unemployed.

Every day, I wake with a gnawing dread. Plagued by a nagging sense that I'm not doing enough. Striving to not succumb to "There's nothing out there" syndrome. Girding for a trying, bitter winter. Telling myself to bear down, hold fast, maintain that stiff upper lip -- fortitude, resilience, and all that. If need be, to take it to a Churchillian level: "We shall not fail or falter, we shall not weaken or tire." (While still living by Churchill's dictum to "Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.")

Today, I saw an article in the Wall Street Journal: "White House Tally Appears to Overstate Stimulus Jobs."(Cue "A Day in the Life" -- "I read the news today, oh boy.") Among the suspect numbers submitted to the government:

Some Head Start preschool programs reported that stimulus money saved the job of every staff member who received a cost-of-living pay raise, according to their filings. Some colleges and universities counted every part-time student work-study position as a full-time job, according to their reports, which are published online at recovery.gov....

A Kentucky shoe-store owner claimed to have created or saved nine jobs with an $889.60 contract to supply work boots to the Army Corps of Engineers. The owner said he supplied nine pairs of boots and that the mistake arose from confusion over the government form.

Last week, the claim that 650,000 jobs were created or saved sparked a firestorm of criticism, with many arguing that this figure could neither be competently measured nor effectively verified. In addition to disputing/dismissing the report, many contended that, based on the billions in stimulus funds "spent" on these jobs, they weren't worth the cost to salvage.

(I, too, was left scratching my head when the White House announced that 650,000 figure. It reminded me of the line by Chico Marx in Duck Soup: "Who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?" Of the numerous people I know who are out of work, none have secured a permanent job in the last few months.)







I also checked out the latest (September) Employment Situation Summary from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (statistics for October are scheduled to be released on Friday, November 6). The "Situation" is worth quoting at length:

Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed
persons has increased by 7.6 million to 15.1 million, and the unemployment
rate has doubled to 9.8 percent....

Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed
temporary jobs rose by 603,000 to 10.4 million in September. The number of
long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) rose by 450,000
to 5.4 million. In September, 35.6 percent of unemployed persons were job-
less for 27 weeks or more....

In September, the number of persons working part time for economic reasons
(sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was little changed
at 9.2 million. The number of such workers rose sharply throughout most of
the fall and winter but has been little changed since March....

About 2.2 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force in
September, an increase of 615,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not sea-
sonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and
were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12
months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for
work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey....

Among the marginally attached, there were 706,000 discouraged workers in
September, up by 239,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally
adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work
because they believe no jobs are available for them. The other 1.5 million
persons marginally attached to the labor force in September had not searched
for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school
attendance or family responsibilities.

Not to take issue with the terminology employed by the BLS, but "job losers"? (That "L" word really stings -- I can imagine someone yelling at me "Hey, job loser.") How about "involuntary part-time workers"? (Makes me think of the classification in compensation circles of "non-highly-compensated workers.") Or the "marginally attached"? (Doesn't Cosmopolitan have quizzes about them?) And I'm surprised they made a distinction for "discouraged workers." The rest of us are, what, "uncomfortable"? "Annoyed"?

On a more serious note, it's sobering to know that over a third of "unemployed persons" have been out of work for over six months (the long-term -- and possibly permanently -- unemployed). As alarming -- there are now six job seekers for every available job. With all the marketing-related layoffs and with newspapers shedding journalists left and right, it's likely that the ratio is even higher in the writing trades (my line of work).

Regardless of -- or possibly because of -- that chimerical 650,000 figure, we're bracing for the long haul. Coming to terms with reality... the new new normal. With millions of weary, hopeless Americans struggling to keep their heads above water. With families fraying from the strain -- losing their patience, their health insurance, their homes. Taking scant solace in a "jobless recovery."

Earlier today, I read the local paper, The Beverly Review (yeah, I did a lot of reading today). Glancing at the Police Blotter, I noticed this: "An unknown man stole meat from a business on the 3100 block of West 103rd Street." Is that what we've been reduced to? Is that what we've become? A society of meat stealers? Oh, the humanity.